Chapter 2 draft

Chapter 2
Discussion

Definition of Sport and Dance

 Sport is defined as a form of competitive physical activity which can be through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and provide entertainment to participants. (Wikipedia.com) At the same time it is also defined as an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature. (dictionary.reference.com)

Volleyball is a kind of sport who really empowers the competitive nature of what sport is. It is the kind of game wherein two teams of six are separated by a net, and their goal is preventing the ball to touch the ground. It really requires a lot of team coordination because every player plays a special role inside the court.

Another sport that shows competitiveness is the skating or figure skating. This sport can be done by individuals, by pairs, or by group. It also requires the coordination of all parts of your body, whenever you’re doing a solo, when you do the spinning and jumping along the ice skating rink. And if ever you’re with a pair or a group, it also does need the coordination, not just your body coordination, but also your coordination with your partner or groupmates.

      Gymnastics is another sport that is much related to ballet because of the common factors that is present in them. In this sport, it requires the agility, flexibility, physical strength, coordination, and balance of the body just like in ballet.

On the other hand, dance also involves movement of the body just like that of sport, but it is often rhythmic and to music. (Wikipedia.org) Ballroom Dancing has been considered as a competitive sport during the year 1900’s, and it was called as “Dancesport.” Dancesport denotes competitive ballroom dancing, as contrasted to social or exhibition dancing. (Wikipedia.org)

In 1909, the first unofficial world championship in dancesport was held, and the first formation team was presented in 1932 by Olive Ripman at Astoria Ballroom, London. In the past years, dancesport only applies to International Style of competitive ballroom dancing, often referred as Standard or Modern dancing, and Latin dancing. Today, it now includes the Latin American, Standard, and Ten Dance.

And now, in some point of view, a new dance should now be considered as a competitive sport just like ballroom dancing is. Ballet can be the next dance that will be considered as a sport because just like what was said in chapter 1, there were factors that can be considered to make ballet as a sport.  Those factors include physical and mental common factors between ballet and some other sport.

Factors needed to consider Ballet as Sport

A.     Health Diet

Being physically fit is one of the common factors between an athlete and a ballerina. Both of them needs a physically fit and healthy body to be able to perform and play well. Ballerinas, just like athletes, do have their own special healthy diet to maintain their fit body.

However, the only difference between them is that ballerinas have stricter diet than athletes are. It is because ballerinas do a lot of routines that is composed of tiptoeing, lifting each other, and bending their bodies. That’s why ballerinas really need to watch the amount of calories they would take in.

A ballerina is also a type of athlete that needs to have a balance intake of calories in his/her body. “When it comes to the types of food ballerinas eat, there must be a balance of carbohydrates, protein and saturated fat. The combined three offer energy, muscular strength and endurance as well as healthy joints and bones, all necessary for athletes like ballerinas” (Jae Ireland, 2011)   

B.      Training

Another factor that is common between an athlete and a ballerina is the training they undergo through. Just like the result in the survey that was conducted, both athletes and ballerinas do some stretching first before proceeding to the training itself. Stretching is needed so that the body would not feel so much pain after the training, especially if it is a hard training.

However, ballerinas have a different way of stretching their bodies. Ballerinas often do some jumping, twirling, and bending into the air to lighten the body. After that, another warming up that is being done is dancing with a random music. The dancers move their body gracefully until the music fades, then they will end up with a pose.

To be a ballerina, it takes years to be able to become a professional ballerina. Oftentimes, those professional ballerinas usually spent half of their life doing ballet. It is not that easy to learn ballet, it needs a lot of training and dedication to become a professional one. And most ballerinas already devoted themselves in this kind of art.